19/ f 







236— May, 1919 



UNITED STATES .CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION 



INFORMATION 



CONCERNING 






POLITICAL ASSESSMENTS AND 
PARTISAN ACTIVITY 

OF FEDERAL OFFICEHOLDERS 
AND EMPLOYEES 



III 
III 

"■jiliiii 



MAY, 1919 



iiii 



q^-^4M7T 




WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1919 



s^ 






JUN 21 1919 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page. 
[. POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF COMPETITIVE EMPLOYEES. 

1. Civil Service Rule I 5 

2. Definition of political activity and scope of rule 5 

3. Temporary employees — Leave of absence 5 

4. Unclassdfied laborers 5 

5. Conventions 6 

6. Primaries — Caucuses 6 

7. Committees ^ 

8. Clubs 6 

9. Meetings 6 

10. Expression of opinions 6 

11. Activity at the polls and for candidates 6 

12. Election officers 6 

13. New^spapers — Publication of letters or articles G 

14. Liquor question 6 

15. Contributions "^ 

16. Candidacy for or holding local office 7 

17. Executive order of January 17, 1873 7 

18. Executh-e order of January 28,. 1873 7 

19. Application of political-activity rule 8 

20. Active candidacy for office excepted from rule not permissible- 8 

21. Excepted offices 8 

22. Eligibles holding local office 9 

23. Executive order of May 14, 1909 9 

24. Practice under the order 9 

25. Executive order of February 14, 1912 9 

26. Scope of the order 9 

27. Woman suffrage 10 

28. Betting or wagering on elections 10 

29. Seeking legislation 10 

30. Other forms of activity 10 

31. Candidacy for presidential positions 10 

32. Signing of petitions 10 

33 Reinstatement 1 

II POLITICAL ACTIVITY bF~PRESIDENTIAL OFFICERS AND IN- 
CUMBENTS OF UNCLASSIFIED AND EXCEPTED POSITIONS. 

34. Executive order of July 14, 1886 11 

35. President's letter of June 13, 1902 11 

36. Departmental regulations 12 

III. POLITICAL ASSESSMENTS. 

37. Solicitation or receipt of political contributions by one employee 

from another — Section 118, Criminal Code 13 

38. Circulars of solicitation bearing names of Federal employees 13 

39. Sufficiency of indictments 13 

40. Solicitation or receipt of political contributions in Federal build- 

ings — Section 119, Criminal Code 15 

41. Letters addressed to Federal buildings 15 

42. Letters delivered in Federal buildings 15 

43. Discrimination on account of political contributions— Section 120, ^ 

Criminal Code I'' 

44. Payment of political contributions by one employee to another — 

Section 121, Criminal Code 15 

45. Penalties for assessments 1^ 

46. Above offenses are felonies 15 

(3) 



IV. POLITICAL COERCION. Page. 

47. Civil-service act and rule 16 

V. POLITICAL DISCRIMINATION. 

48. Failure to contribute or render political service not prejudiciul__ 16 

49. Political opinions and affiliations 16 

50. Definition of discrimination 16 

51. Wliolesale removals 16 

VI. POLITICAL RECOMMENDATIONS. 

52. Senators and Representatives 16 

53. Disclosing politics 17 

54. Letters disclosing politics or religion not to be considered 17 

55. Recommendations for promotion 17 

VII. POSTAL SERVICE EMPLOYEES. 

56. Organizations 17' 

57. Rural carriers 17 

58. Fourtti-class postmasters 17 

VIII. ATTEMPTS TO INFLUENCE LEGISLATION. 

59. Right of petition 18 

IX. JURISDICTION OF COMMISSION. 

60. Investigations and recommendations 18 

61. Policy of commission 18 



INFORMATION CONCERNING POLITICAL ASSESSMENTS 
AND PARTISAN ACTIVITY OF FEDERAL OFFICE- 
HOLDERS AND EMPLOYEES. 



L POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF COMPETITIVE EMPLOYEES. 

1. CIVIL SERTICE RULE I, SECTION 1, provides, in part, as follows: 

" Persons who by the provisions of these rules are in the competi- 
tive classified service, while retaining the right to vote as they please 
and to express privately their opinions on all political subjects, shall 
take no active part in political management or in political cam- 
paigns." 

2. Definition of political activity and scope of rule. — Activity in politics in- 
cludes any activity pertaining to or connected with a party or parties controlling 
or seeking to control Government in the Nation, or in a State, county, or munici- 
pality. Any one of two or more bodies of people contending for antagonistic 
or rival governmental policies or measures is a political party. The fact that 
a campaign may not mean affiliation with any of the great national political 
parties or that the party may be a reform party is not material, for the reason 
that one of the primary purposes of the rule forbidding political activity on 
the part of competitive classified employees is to require them, in their political 
as well as their official actions, to avoid any act or display of partisanship on 
any pending political issue which might cause public scandal or unfavorable 
comment and offend persons who have relations with them in their official 
capacity. For an employee of the Government who is the paid servant of all 
citizens of all political faiths, publicly to display his partisanship with resj^ect 
to any pending issue is detrimental to the service; an employee could not, of 
course, be permitted to support such an issue and another employee forbidden 
to oppose it, and his partisanship, while pleasing to some, would be offensive 
to others. It is well known that reform or so-called nonpartisan campaigns 
are frequently more bitterly contested than campaigns conducted on strictly 
partisan lines, and however meritorious may be the reform sought to be at- 
tained, if the question is a political one a competitive employee may not take 
an active part in its discussion or solution. No attempt can be made in en- 
forcing the rule to distinguish between good and bad political activity and the 
fact that the political activity may be under the auspices of a religious organi- 
zation (as in the question of prohibition) or of a labor union (as in the matter 
of legislation on labor or other kindred questions) does not make it any the 
less prohibited political activity. 

3. Temporary employees — Leave of absence. — Temporary or emergency em- 
ployees, substitutes, and persons on furlough or leave of absence, with or with- 
out pay, are subject to the rule. While an employee is in the competitive 
classified service and his name is carried on the rolls, the civil-service rules 
and regulations apply to him and he must refrain from their violation, even 
though he may not be rendering actual service to the Government. It is not 
permissible for an employee to take leave of absence for the purpose of work- 
ing for a ix)litical committee or organization or of becoming a candidate for 
an elective office with the understanding that he will resign his competitive 
position if nominated or elected. 

4. Unclassified laborers. — Under the regulations for the navy-yard service, ap- 
proved December 7, 1912, unclassified laborers are made subject to dismissal 
for political activity in the same manner as are competitive classified em- 
ployees. Similar instructions have been issued by other departments placing 
the same limitations in regard to political activity on laborers in the unclassified 
service as are applied to competitive employees. 

(5) 



5. Conventions. — The rule is held to forbid candidacy for or service as dele- 
gate, alternate, or proxy in any political convention, or as an officer or em- 
ployee thereof. It does not prohibit mere attendance as a spectator, but the 
person so attending must not take any part in the convention or in the deliber- 
ations or proceedings of any of its committees and must refrain from any 
public display of partisanship or obtrusive demonstration or interference or 
any activity which might cause scandal or unfavorable comment. 

6. Primaries — Caucuses. — An employee may attend a primary meeting, mass 
convention, beat convention, caucus, and the like and may cast his vote on any 
question presented, but he may not pass this point in participating in its de- 
liberations. He may not act as an officer of the meeting, convention, or caucus, 
may not address it, make motions, prepare or assist in preparing resolutions, 
assume to represent others, or take any prominent part therein. 

7. Committees. — Service on or for any political committee or similar organiza- 
tion is prohibited. An employee may attend as a spectator any meeting of a 
political committee to which the general public is admitted, but must refrain 
from activity as indicated in the preceding paragraphs. 

8. Clubs. — Employees may be members of political clubs, but it is improper 
for them to be active in the organization of such a club, to be officers of the 
club, or members or officers of any of its committees or act as such, or to ad- 
dress a political club. Service as a delegate from such a club to a league of 
political clubs is service as an officer or representative of a political club and 
is prohibited, as is service as a delegate or representative of such a club to or 
in any other organization. In other words, an employee may become a member 
of a political club, but may not take an active part in its management or af- 
fairs, and may not represent other members or attempt to influence them by 
his actions or utterances. 

9. Meetings. — Service in preparing for, organizing, or conducting a political 
meeting or rally, addressing such a meeting, or taking any other active part 
therein, except as a spectator, is prohibited. 

10. Expression of opinions. — The right to express privately his opinions on all 
political subjects is reserved to the employee by the rule. He must confine 
himself to the private expression of his views and must refrain from political 
discussions or conferences while on duty or in public places ; he must not 
canvass a district or solicit political support for any party, faction, candidate, 
or measure. 

11. Activity at the polls and for candidates. — An employee has the right to 
vote as he pleases, and to exercise this right free from interference, solicitation, 
or dictation by any fellow employee or superior or any other person. It is his 
duty to avoid any offensive activity at primary and regular elections, and he 
must refrain from soliciting votes, assisting voters to mark ballots, or in getting 
out the voters on registration and election days, acting as the accredited checker, 
watcher, or challenger of any party or faction, assisting in counting the vote, or 
engaging in any other activity at the polls except the marking and depositing 
of his own ballot. The rendition of service for pay, such as transporting voters 
to and from the polls and candidates on canvassing tours, even though such 
service is performed without regard to political party, is held within the scope 
of political activities prohibited by the rule. 

13. Election officers. — An employee may not seek appointment or election to 
or serve in any position of election officer, except in positions refusal to serve 
in which is penalized by the election laAV of the State, and in the latter case he 
must not seek or solicit appointment or election, and if appointed without his 
solicitation must act impartially and without exhibiting partisan feelings or 
giving any appearance of partisan activity. 

13. Newspapers — -Publication of letters or articles. — An employee may not pub- 
lish or be connected editorially, managerially, or financially with any political 
newspaper, and may not ^^Tite for publication or publish any letter or article, 
signed or unsigned, in favor of or against any political party, candidate, faction, 
or measure. An employee who writes such a letter or article is responsible for 
any use that may be made of it whether or not he gives consent to such use. 

14. Liguor question. — Activity in campaigns concerning the regulation or sup- 
pression of the liquor traffic is prohibited. An employee mny be a member but 
not an officer of a club, league, or other organization which takes part in such 
a campaign. The rule does not prohibit temperance propaganda, but any en- 
deavor for or against the regulation, control, or suppression of the liquor traffic 
through political agencies is prohibited. The fact that the activity may be 
under the auspices of a religious organization does not relieve the employee 



from the necessity of obeying the rule. The rule does not exclude the employee 
from participating in discussion where no political issue is involved or from 
making an address on any moral or ethical subject, but when two or more 
parties or factions become engaged in a contest for rival or antagonistic 
measures or policies of control or regulation a political question is presented. 

15. Contributions. — An employee may make political contributions to any com- 
mittee, organization, or person not employed by the United States, but may not 
under the rule solicit, collect, receive, or otherwise handle or disburse the same. 
(See provisions of the Criminal Code,, discussed in paragraphs 37 to 46.) 

16. Candidacy for or holding local ofS^ce.^ — Candidacy for a nomination or for 
election to any national. State, county, or municipal office is not permissible. 
The prohibition against political activity extends not merely to formal announce- 
ment of candidacy but also to the preliminaries leading to such announcement 
and to canvassing or soliciting support or doing or permitting to be done any 
act in furtherance of candidacy. The fact that candidacy is merely passive 
does not take it out of the prohibition of the rule, and if an employee acquiesces 
in the efforts of friends in furtherance of such candidacy and does nothing to 
prevent them the rule is violated. Certain exceptions are stated in the follow- 
ing sections (17 to 27) : 

17. Executive order of January 17, 1873: 

Whereas it has been brought to the notice of the President of the United States that 
many persons holding civil office by appointment from him or otherwise under the Con- 
stitution and laws of the United States while holding such Federal positions accept 
offices under the authority of the States and Territories in which they reside, or of 
municipal corporations, under the charters and ordinances of such corporations, thereby 
assuming the duties of the State, Territorial, or municipal office at the same time that 
they are charged with the duties of the civil office held under Federal authority : 

And whereas it is believed that, with but few exceptions, the holding of two such 
offices by the same person is incompatible with a due and faithful discharge of the duties 
of either office ; that it frequently gives rise to great inconvenience, and often results in 
detriment to the public service ; and, moreover, is not in harmony with the genius of 
the Government : 

In view of the premises, therefore, the President has deemed it proper thus and hereby 
to give public notice that, from and after the 4th day of March, A. D. 1873 (except as 
herein specified), persons holding any Federal civil office by appointment under the 
Constitution and laws of the United States will be expected, while holding such office, 
not to accept or hold any office under any State or Territorial government, or under 
the charter or ordinances of any municipal corporation ; and, further, that the acceptance 
or continued holding of any such State, Territorial, or municipal office, whether 
elective or by appointment, by any person holding civil office as aforesaid under the 
Government of the United States, other than judicial offices under the Constitution of 
the United States, will be deemed a vacation of the Federal office held by such person, 
and will be taken to be and will be treated as a resignation by such Federal officer of his 
commission or appointment in the service of the United States. 

The offices of justices of the peace, of notaries public, and of commissioners to take 
the acknowledgment of deeds, of bail, or to administer oaths, shall not be deemed within 
the purview of this order and are excepted from its operation, and may be held by Federal 
officers. 

The appointment of deputy marshals of the United States may be conferred upon 
sheriffs or deputy sheriffs. And deputy postmasters, the emoluments of whose office do 
not exceed $600 per annum, are also excepted from the operation of this order and may 
accept and hold appointments under State, Territorial, or municipal- authority, provided 
the same be found not to interfere with the discharge of their duties as postmaster. ^ 
Heads of departments and other officers of the Government who have the appointment of 
subordinate officers are required to take notice of thisi order, and to see to the enforce- 
ment of its provisions and terms within the sphere of their respective departments 
or offices and as relates to the several persons holding appointments under them, 
respectively. 

18. Executive order of January 88, 1873: 

Inquiries having been made from various quarters as to the application of the Execu- 
tive order issued on the 17th of January relating to the holding of State or municipal 
offices by persons holding civil offices under the Federal Government, the President 
directs the following reply to be made : 

It has been asked whether the order prohibits a Federal officer from holding also the 
office of an alderman or of a common councilman in a city, or of a town councilman of a 
town or village, or of appointments under city, town, or village governments. By some 
it has been suggested that there may be distinction made in case the office be with or 
without salary or compensation. The city or town offices of the description referred to, 
by whatever names they may be locally known, whether held by election or by appoint- 
ment, and whether with or without salary or compensation, are of the class which the 
Executive order intends not to be held by persons holding Federal offices. 

It has been asked whether the order prohibits Federal officers from holding positions 
on boards of education, school committees, public libraries, religious or eleemosynary 
institutions incorporated or established or sustained by State or municipal authority. 
Positions and service on such boards and committees, and professorships In colleges are 
not regarded as " offices " within the contemplation of the Executive order, but as 
employments or service in which all good citizens may be engaged without incompatibility 
and in many cases without necessary interference with any position which they may 

1 See paragraph 19. 



8 

hold under the Federal Government. Officers of the Federal Government may therefore 
engage in such service, provided the attention required by such employment does not 
interfere with the regular and efficient discharge of the duties of their office under the 
Federal Government. The head of the department under whom the Federal office is held 
will in all cases be the sole judge whether or not the employment does thus interfere. 

The question has also been asked with regard to officers of the State militia. Con- 
gress having exercised the power conferred by the Constitution to provide for organizing 
the militia, which is liable to be called forth to be employed in the service of the United 
States, and is thus, in some sense, under the control of the General (Government, and is, 
moreover, of the greatest value to the public, the Executive order of the 17th January 
is not considered as prohibiting Federal officers from "being officers in the militia in the 
States and Territories. 

It has been asked whether the order prohibits persons holding office under the Federal 
Government being members of local or municipal fire departments ; also, whether it 
applies to mechanics employed by the day in the armories, arsenals, and navy yards, 
etc., of the United States. Unpaid service in local or municipal fire departments is not 
regarded as an office within the intent of the Executive order, and may be performed 
by Federal officers, provided it does not interfere with the regular and efficient discharge 
of the duties of the Federal office, of which the head of the department under which the 
office is held will in each case be the judge. Employment by the day as mecha:nic or 
laborer in the armories, arsenals, navy yards, etc., does not constitute an office of any 
kind, and those thus employed are not within the contemplation of the Executive order.i 
Master workmen and others who hold appointments from the Government or from any 
department, whether for a fixed time or at the pleasure of the appointing power, are 
embraced within the operation of the order. 

19. Application of political activity rule. — Tlie Civil Service Commission has 
no function in the interpretation or enforcement of the above orders of Jan- 
uary 17 and 28, 1873, except in so far as they relate to the rule forbidding 
political activity by competitive classified employees and unclassified laborers. 
These employees, with some exceptions, are prohibited from holding any elective 
office or any office filled through appointment by an elected officer, board, or 
council. The provision of the Executive order of January 17, 1873, excepting 
from its prohibitions to hold local office " deputy postmasters, the emoluments 
of whose office do not exceed $600 per annum," is modified and amended by the 
subsequent Executive orders placing fourth-class postmasters in the competitive 
classified service and thereby subjecting them to the provision of section 1 of 
Rule I as to political activity, and further by section 4 of the regulations agreed 
to by the Department and the Commission and approved by the President on 
November 25, 1912, Avhich prohibits political activity by fourth-class postmasters, 
and applies to all offices of the fourth class of whatever compensation.'^ 

20. Active candidacy for office excepted from rule not permissible. — The pro- 
visions of the Executive orders of January 17 and 28, 1873, permitting the 
holding of certain minor offices, do not relieve a competitive classified employee 
from the necessity of obeying the rule concerning political activity. The only 
difference between these and other elective offices is that candidacy for or 
holding such an office is not alone sufficient to constitute a violation of the rule, 
while it is sufficient in offices not excepted from the operation of the orders. 
If candidacy for any office, whether or not one of the offices mentioned in the 
orders involves or necessitates activity in political management or in a political 
campaign, such candidacy is prohibited by the rule. If, however, a competitive 
employee by becoming a passive or inactive candidate may secure election to one 
of the positions excepted from the operation of the orders, the rule is not vio- 
lated. In the case of offices not excepted from the operation of the Executive 
order of January 17, 1873, candidacy alone, even if passive, is regarded as a 
violation of the rule. 

21. Excepted offices. — Persons in the executive civil service may be appointed 
to certain other positions which are held to be excepted from the operation of 
the order of January 17, 1873, provided the consent of the department under 
which the Federal office is held is obtained and the political activity rule is not 
violated, viz : 

Employees on Indian reservations may be appointed under State authority 
as deputy sheriffs or constables, as the requirements of the service demand, this 
action being necessary, as on all reservations which have been allotted and 
opened for settlement conditions arise wherein the Federal Government has 
sole jurisdiction over certain offenses and the State has jurisdiction over other 
offenses, and where there can be merged in one person the joint authority of a 
Federal and State officer, a serious difficulty in the administration of justice is 
removed. 

There is no objection to the holding of a small-salaried position in a municipal 
fire department. 

1 See paragraphs 4 and 23. 

2 See sec. 160, Postal Laws and Regulations. 



Under subsequent Executive orders certain other exceptions have been made, 
as indicated below : 

Officers and employees of the Department of Agriculture are authorized to hold State 
and territorial positions when such action is deemed necessary by the Secretary of Agri- 
culture to secure a more efficient administration. (Executive order of June 26, 1907.) 

State and county officials may be appointed special agents under the Bureau of the 
Census for the collection of cotton statistics. (Executive order of August 4, 1909.) 

The temporary office or moderator of a town meeting and offices of a like character are 
excepted from the operation of the order of January 17, 1873. (Order of August 24. 
1912.) 

Employees of the Reclamation Service and the National Park Service may, with the 
approval of the Secretary of the Interior, accept appojptments as deputy State flsh or 
game wardens, if no compensation is attached to the position. (Executive order of July 
9, 1914.) 

Laborers in charge of lights in the Lighthouse Service are excepted from the operation 
of the order of January 17, 1873. (Executive order of October 6, 1915.) 

Employees of the Treasury Department may, with the approval of the Secretary of the 
Treasur.v, accept appointment on any State, county, or municipal council of defense for 
purposes of mobilizing and conserving the resources of the country. (Executive order of 
April 14, 1917.) 

22. EliglMes holding local office. — Eligibles who are holding a local office not 
excepted from the prohibitions of the order of 1873 must on selection and 
acceptance of any position in the competitive classified service or of unclassified 
laborer immediately resign the local office. The holding of a local office not 
excepted from the prohibitions of the order of 1873 is an absolute disqualifica- 
tion for appointment, and unless applicants are willing immediately to resign 
the local office in the event of selection for appointment their applications can 
not be considered. 

23. Executive order of May 14, 1909 : 

Whenever in the opinion of the Secretary of the Navy a strict enforcement of the 
provisions of section 1, Rule I, of the civil-service rules would influence the result of a 
local election the issue of which materially affects the local welfare of the Government 
employees in the vicinity of any navy yard or station the Civil Service Commission may, 
on recommendation of the Secretary of the Navy, and after such investigation as it may 
deem necessary, permit the active participation of the employees of the yard or station 
in such local election. In the exercise of the privilege which may be conferred here- 
under, persons affected must not neglect their official duties nor cause public scandal by 
their activity. 

24. Practice under order of May 14, 1909. — This order does not operate to re- 
peal that of January 17, 1873, so far as it applies to navy-yard employees, but 
merely provides for a waiver of the political-activity rule. It is not the prac- 
tice of the department to recommend or of the commission to grant under this 
order permission to bosses or head men, by whatever designation known, or to 
any person whose recommendations have, by regulation, any inffuence upon the 
employment, promotion, laying off, or discharge of other employees, to become 
candidates for local office, as in such case there would be temptation to use the 
power of their official positions to secure election. Prior permission must be 
obtained to engage in any political activity under the order. The order applies 
solely to local municipal elections. Therefore, under it, permission can not be 
granted for political activity in county affairs. The order does not apply to 
localities where the proportion of Government employees to the total population 
is negligible. 

25. Executive order of February 14, 1912: ^ 

Employees of the executive civil service permanently residing in the following incor- 
porated municipalities adjacent to the District of Columbia will not be prohibited from 
becoming candidates for or holding municipal office in such corporations : 

In Maryland — Takoma Park, Kensington, Garret Park, Chevy Chase, Glen Echo, 
Hyattsville, Mount Rainier, Somerset, North Beach, Capitol Heights, Laurel. 
In Virginia — Palls Church, Vienna, Herndon. 

In the exercise of the privilege granted by this order officers and employees must not 
neglect their official duties and must not engage in national. State, or county political 
activity in violation of the civil-service rules, and if there is such violation the head of the 
department or independent office in which the person is employed shall inflict such punish- 
ment as the Civil Service Commission shall recommend. 

This order, which is recommended by the Civil Service Commission, is based upon the 
facts that a considerable number of the residents and taxpayers of the towns mentioned 
are employed in the Government service ; that service as municipal officers in such towns 
should in no way involve general partisan political activity, and that the principal of home 
rule and local self-government justifies such participation. 

26. Scope of order of February 14, 1912. — The exception made in this case to 
section 1 of Rule I and the Executive order of January 17, 1873, does not 
extend to municipalities other than those specifically named, and Government 
employees residing in other towns than these who desire to become candidates 

1 As amended by orders of May 5, 1914, May 26, 1914, and Mar. 9, 1918. 
114912°— 19 2 



10 

for local office or to take an active part in political campaigns are not permitted 
by this order to do so. 

27. Womau suffrage.— Those favoring or opposing the cause of woman suf- 
frage are subject to the same rules and restrictions regarding political activity 
as are applicable to the adherents or opponents of other political causes. 

28. Betting or wagering on elections. — Betting or wagering upon the results 
of primary and general elections is penalized by the laws of most States and is 
regarded as improper political activity. 

29. Seeking legislation. — Service as a legislative agent or lobbyist and all 
other activity in connection '<vith direct legislation and proposed constitutional 
or statutory provisions, National or State, and Avith proposed municipal ordi- 
nances, regulations, or other enactments, is prohibited/ 

30. Other forms of activity. — Among other forms of political activity which, 
are prohibited by the rule are the distribution of campaign literature, badges, 
or buttons, the wearing of such badges or buttons while on duty, the circulation 
but not the signing of political petitions (including initiative and referendum, 
recall, and nominating petitions), and general political leadership or becoming 
prominently identified with any political movement, party, or faction or with 
the success or failure of any candidate for election to public office. 

31. Candidacy for presidential positions. — Where a competitive employee 
seeks promotion in the way of appointment or transfer to an unclassified office, 
there is no objection to his becoming a candidate for such an office, provided 
the consent of his department is obtained, and provided he does not violate 
section 1 of Rule I, prohibiting the use of his official authority or influence in 
political matters, and provided further that he avoids neglect of duty and any 
action that would cause public scandal or semblance of coercion upon his fel- 
low employees or upon those over whom he desires to be placed in the position 
to which he seeks appointment. 

A competitive classified employee may circulate a petition or seek indorse- 
ments for his own appointment to an unclassified position, subject to the 
qualifications above stated, and he may, as an individual, sign a petition or 
recommend another for such an appointment ; but he may not circulate a 
petition or solicit indorsements, recommendations, or support for the appoint- 
ment of another person to such a position, whether or not such other person is 
a fellow employee or one not at the time in the Government service. 

In case an unofficial primary or election is held for the purpose of determin- 
ing the popular choice for the unclassified office, a competitive employee may 
permit his name to appear upon the ticket, but he may not solicit votes in 
his behalf at such a primary or election, or in any manner violate sec- 
tion 1 of Rule I. He may vote and express privately his opinions, but may not 
solicit votes or publicly advocate the candidacy or election of himself or any 
other person. 

32. Signing of petitions.— As stated in the preceding paragraph, it is per- 
missible for a competitive classified employee, as an individual, to sign a peti- 
tion or recommend another for appointment to an unclassified position. He is 
not permitted to sign such a petition as a Government employee or in any other 
way to use his official authority or influence to advance the candidacy of any 
person for election or appointment to any office. While competitive employees 
are permitted to exercise the right as individuals to sign a petition favoring a 
candidate for any office, they may not do so as Government employees or as a 
group or association of Government employees. 

33. Reinstatement. — The conditions under which reinstatement may be author- 
ized where an employee resigns to engage in political activity or to become a 
candidate for elective office are indicated in the following extract from a 
letter of the President dated December 26, 1911 : 

I am of opinion that, in accord with the spirit of our institutions in recognizing the 
fundamental right of citizenship, a citizen who resigns to become a candidate for office 
and pursues a course free from coercion, bribery, or other scandalous or unlawful con- 
duct should not thereby be prejudiced by being refused reinstatement within the period 
of eligibility prescribed by the rules ; nor do I think any distinction should be made 
between the person who resigns and becomes a candidate and one who resigns, not to 
be a candidate, but to manage or take part in a political campaign for a party. If he 
wishes to run the risk of finding an Executive who will reinstate him and he resigns 
in order to avoid a violation of the rules as to participation in electoral contests by mem- 
bers of the classified service, I do not see why it should demoralize the service to allow 
him to resign and run the risk of securing the approval of his reinstatement by the 
Executive within a year after he has resigned. 

1 Applies to all legislation except Federal legislation relating to the conditions of labor 
of employees. As to such legislation, see sees, 56 and 60, post. 



11 

In a similar case the President had stated previously : " I do not mean to 
say that the circumstances under which one leaves a department and the pur- 
pose for which it is done might not affect the right to reinstatement." 

If one resigns not merely to escape punishment for political activity prior to 
resignation, but without delinquency or misconduct and to avoid violation of 
the rule, and is guilty of no scandalous or unlawful conduct in his activity after 
resignation, his reinstatement may be authorized. 

II. POLITICAL ACTITITT OF PRESIDENTIAL OFFICERS 

AND INCUMBENTS OF UNCLASSIFIED AND EXCEPTED 
POSITIONS. 

34. Executive order of JtQy 14, 1886: 

I deem this a proper time to especially warn all subordinates in the several departments 
and all officeholders under the General Government against the use of their official posi- 
tions in attempts to control political movements in their localities. 

Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters. Not only is their time 
and labor due to the Government, but they should scrupulously avoid, in their political 
action as well as in the discharge of their official duties, offending, by display of obtrusive 
partisanship, their neighbors who have relations with them as public officials. 

They should also constantly remember that their party friends from whom they have 
received preferment have not invested them with the power of arbitrarily managing their 
political affairs. They have no-right as officeholders to dictate the political action of their 
party associates or to throttle freedom of action within party lines by methods and prac- 
tices which pervert every useful and justifiable purpose of party organization. The in- 
fluence of Federal officeholders should not be felt in the manipulation of political primary 
meetings and nominating conventions. The use by these officials of their positions to 
compass their selection as delegates to political conventions is indecent and unfair, and 
proper regard for the proprieties and requirements of official place will also prevent their 
assuming the active conduct of political campaigns. 

Individual interest and activity in political affairs are by no means condemned. Office- 
holders are neither disfranchised nor forbidden the exercise of political privileges, but 
their privileges are not enlarged nor is their duty to party increased to pernicious activity 
by office holding. 

A just discrimination in this regard between the things a citizen may properly do and 
the purposes for which a public office should not be used is easy, in the light of a correct 
appreciation of the relation between the people and those intrusted with official place and 
the consideration of the necessity under our form of governmeut of political action free 
from official coercion. 

You are requested to communicate the substance of these views to those for whose 
guidance they are intended. 

35. President's letter of June 13, 1902.— Under date of June 5, 1902, the Com- 
mission addressed a letter to the President in which it called attention to the 
omission in the new postal regulations, issued April 1, 1902, of former section 
435, providing that — 

Officeholders should not offend by obtrusive partisanship, nor assume the active con- 
duct of political campaigns. * * * This is in consonance with the order of Presi- 
dent Cleveland of July 14, 1886. 

The Commission also called the President's attention to the following state- 
ment in its Eleventh Report ; 

The Commission feels strongly that whatever rule is adopted should apply equally to 
adherents of all parties, and that it would be safe to adopt as such a rule the require- 
ment that the adherents of the party in power shall never do what would cause friction 
in the office and subvert discipline if done by the opponents of the party m power. 
A man in the classified service has the entire right to vote as he pleases and to express 
privately his opinions on all political subjects, but he should not take any active part 
in political management or in political campaigns, for precisely the same reas9ns that 
a judge, an Army officer, a regular soldier, or a policeman is debarred from, taking such 
active part. It is no hardship to a man to require this. It leaves him free to vote, 
think, and speak privately as he chooses, but it prevents him, while in the service of the 
whole public, from turning his official position to the benefit of one of the parties into 
which that whole pubUc is divided ; and in no other way can this be prevented. 

The Commission recommended either that a general Executive order upon 
the subject be issued by the President or that recommendations be made to 
the heads of Departments for the establishment of regulations similar to the 
post-office regailation which had been omitted. 

The following reply was received under date of June 13, 1902 : 

Gentlemen: As the greater includes the less, and as the Executive order of Presi- 
dent Cleveland of July 14, 1886, is still in force, I hardly think it will be necessary again 
to change the postal regulations. ^ ^, . -n. ^- i„_ „* n,^c.- 

The trouble, of course, comes in the interpretation of this Executive order of Presi- 
dent Cleveland. After 16 years' experience it has been found impossible to formulate 
in precise language any general construction which shall not work either absurdity 
or injustice. Bach case must be decided on its merits. For instance, it is obviously 
unwise to apply the same rule to the head of a big city Federal office, who may by his 



12 

actions coerce hundreds of employees, as to a fourth-class postmaster In a small village 
who has no employees to coerce and who simply wishes to continue to act with refer- 
ence to his neighbors as he always has acted. „ . , ^, , ^ t j. j -x. 

As Civil Service Commissioner under Presidents Harrison and Cleveland I found at 
so impossible satisfactorily to formulate and decide upon questions involved on these 
matters of so-called pernicious activity by officeholders in politics that m the Eleventh 
Report of the Commission I personally drew up the paragraph which you quote. This 
paragraph was drawn with a view of making a sharp line between the activity allowed 
to public servants within the classified service and those without the classified service. 
The latter under our system are, as a rule, chosen largely with reference to political 
considerations, and, as a rule, are and expect to be changed with the change of parties. 
In the classified service, however, the choice is made without reference to political con- 
siderations and the tenure of office is unaflfected by the change of parties. Under these 
circumstances It is obvious that different standpoints of conduct apply to the two cases. 
In consideration, of fixity of tenure and of appointment in no way due to political con- 
siderations, the man in the classified service, while retaining his right to vote as he 
pleases and to express privately his opinions on all political subjects, '^should not take 
ami active part in political management or in political campaigns, for precisely the same 
reasons that a judge, an Army officer, a regular soldier, or a policeman is debarred from 
taking such active part." This, of course, applies even more strongly to any conduct 
on the part of such employee so prejudicial to good discipline as Is implied in a public 
attack on his or her superior officers, or other conduct liable to cause scandal. 

It seemed to me at the time, and I still think, that the line thus drawn was wise and 
proper After my experience under two Presidents — one of my own political faith and 
one not — I had become convinced that it was undesirable and impossible to lay down 
a rule for public officers not in the classified service which should limit their political 
activity as strictly as we could rightly and properly limit the activity of those in whose 
choice and retention the element of political considerations did not enter; and a;fter- 
wards I became convinced that in its actual construction, if there was any pretense of 
applying it impartially, it Inevitably worked unevenly, and, as a matter of fact, inevitably 
produced an impression of hypocrisy in those who asserted that it worked evenly. 
Officeholders must not use their offices to control political m-ovements, must not neglect 
their public duties, must not cause public scandal by their activity; but outside of the 
classified service the effort to go further than this had failed so signally at the time 
when the Eleventh Report, which you have quoted, was written, and its unwisdom had 
been so thoroughly demonstrated that I felt it necessary to try to draw the distinction 
therein indicated. 

Sincerely, yours, _ _ 

Theodorb Roosbvhlt. 

36. Departmental Hegulations. — The following order relating to the political 
activity of presidential appointees was issued by the State, Treasury, War, 
Navy, Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce Departments, and by the Interstate 
Commerce Commission, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and the 
Public Printer : 

Presidential appointees are forbidden by statute to use their official authority or in- 
fluence to coerce the political action of any person or body, to make any contribution 
for a political object to any other officer of the United States, or to solicit or receive 
contributions for political purposes from other Federal officers or employees, or to dis- 
criminate among their employees or applicants for political reasons. 

Otherwise, a presidential appointee will be allowed to take such a part m political 
campaigns as is taken by any private citizen, except that he will not be permitted — ' 

1. To hold a position as a member or officer of any political committee that solicits 

-^ 2. To display such obtrusive partisanship as to cause public scandal. 
^ 3. To attempt to manipulate party primaries or conventions. 

4. To use his position to bring about his selection as a delegate to conventions, 

5. To act as chairman of a political convention, 

6. To assume the active conduct of a political campaign. 

7. To use his position to interfere with an election or to affect the result thereof. 

8. To neglect his public duties. 

y The following order governing the political activity of presidential appointees 
Tinder the Department of Justice was issued by the Attorney General : 

No presidential appointee or other unclassified employee of the Department of Justice 
will hereafter be permitted (a) to hold a position as a member of any political com- 
mittee that solicits funds ; (6) to display such obtrusive partisanship as to cause public 
scandal; (c) to attempt to manipulate party primaries or conventions; {d) to use his 
position to bring about his selection as delegate to conventions; (e) to act as chairman 
of a political convention; (f) to assume the active conduct of a political campaign ; 
{g) to use his position to interfere with an election or to affect the result thereot ; 
(7i) to neglect his public duties. 

' • The Postmaster General, in an order Issued October 1, 1902, said : 

As to political activity, a sharp line is drawn between those in the classified and those 
in the unclassified service. Postmasters or others holding unclassified positions are 
simplv prohibited from using their offices to control political movements, from neglecting 
their 'duties, and from causing public scandal by their political activity. 

In a letter of November 20, 1906, the Postmaster General said : 

It Is not the practice of this Department to prohibit postmasters from holding posi- 
tions as members of political committees, but it does prohibit them from serving in the 
capacity of officers of such committees. 



13 

III. POLITICAL ASSESSMENTS. 

37. SOLICITATION OR RECEIPT OF POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS BY 
ONE EMPLOYEE FROM ANOTHER.— Section 118, Criminal Code (35 Stat., 
1110), provides i 

" No Senator or Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commis- 
sioner to Congress, or Senator, Representative, Delegate, or Resident 
Commissioner elect, or officer or employee of either House of Congress, 
and no executive, judicial, military, or naval officer of the United 
States, and no clerk or employee of any department, branch, or bureau 
of the executive, judicial, or military or naval service of the United 
States, shall, directly or indirectly, solicit or receive, or be in any 
manner concerned in soliciting or receiving, any assessment, sub- 
scription, or contribution for any political purpose whatever from any 
officer, clerk, or employee of the United States, or any department, 
branch, or bureau thereof, or from any person receiving any salary or 
compensation from moneys derived from the Treasury of the United 
States." 

38. Circulars of solicitation bearing names of Federal employees. — In an 
opinion of October 17, 1902. (24 Op., 133), the Attorney General held that the 
sending of a circular letter by a political committee to Federal officers and 
employees soliciting financial aid in congressional or State elections, upon or 
attached to which appear the names of Federal officers or employees, is a 
violation of section 11 of the civil-service act (now sec. 118 of the Criminal 
Code), which declares that no officer or employee of the Government shall be 
In any manner concerned in soliciting or receiving any assessment or contri- 
bution for any political purpose whatever from any officer or employee of the 
United States. The statute unquestionably condemns all such circulars, not- 
withstanding the particular form of words adopted, in order to show a 
request rather than a demand, and to give the responses a quasi voluntary 
character. 

39. Sufficiency of Indictments. — The following are extracts from the decision 
in United States f. Scott (74 Fed., 213), in the Circuit Court of the District of 
Kentucky, rendered October 7, 1895, by Taft, J. : 

To charge a man with soliciting a contribution from Fnited States officers for a 
political purpose carries with it by implication a charge that the accused knew the 
purpose for which the contribution was solicited. The words " for a political purpose " 
may reasonably be construed to qualify not only the contribution but the solicitation. 
Similarly, to charge that a man received from another his contribution for a political 
purpose, by implication charges that the reception was for the same purpose as the 
contribution. * * * Nor was it necessary to set out the specific averment that the 
defendant knew that the persons from whom the contributions were received were oflScers 
of the United States. 

In an opinion of .January 2.5, 1896 (21 Op., 298), the Attorney General held 
that a disbursing agent of the Government who honored an order of another 
person to pay a portion of his salary to a person not in. the service in aid of a 
political fund, knowing the purpose of such payment, did not violate the law, 
stating : 

Bellman's action must therefore be judged by section 11 alone. I can not see how it 
can fairly be said that it was a violation of the provisions of this section. It is admitted 
that he did not solicit the contribution. Nor can it be said, in any proper sense of the 
term, that he received it. He ph.vsicall.y took the money from the package, but he did 
so merely as the agent of the owner, and so long as it remained in his possession he held 
it as the agent of the owner, who had a right at any time to revoke his order and 
reclaim the money. This right continued until Bellman actually handed the money over 
to the third person, who alone can be said to have received it. When he received it it 
was from the secret agent in Chicago by the hand of Bellman and not from Bellman. 
He was accounable to the agent in Chicago and not to Bellman for its use or misuse. 
Bellman had no more to do with the transaction than a mere messenger would have had 
to whom the' owner had handed it for delivery. The receipt of money, etc., intended by 
the statute is acceptance of possession which confers a right of disposal, not possession 
which simply constitutes the taker a mere custodian without right on his own behalf 
or that of others. 

The phrase " in any manner concerned in soliciting or receiving " was intended to 
cover evasions of the purpose of the statute and to punish all persons for whom or on 
whose behalf or at whose instance the person actually receiving the money is acting. 
Your statement excludes all relation whatever on the part of Bellman to the transaction 
other than the mere physical one which I have already described. In my opinion he was 
.not guilty of either receiving or being concerned in receiving a contribution for a political 
purpose within the meaning of the act in question. 



14 

In the case of United States v. Dutro, May T., 1913, Western District of 
Tennessee, unreported, the same defense was interposed, and upon motion for 
directed verdict for defendant, the following decision was rendered by Mc- 
Call, J. : 

I have given all the time counsel cared to consume in the discussion of this motion 
for a directed verdict, because I gathered from what had been said that it was practically 
determinative of the case. ■, ., .^ , ^ -r v. -,-, ^ ^ ^x.- 

The statute under which the indictment was found prohibits (and I shall speak of this 
concrete case) the postmaster at Memphis, Tenn., from receiving, or being in any manner 
concerned in receiving, any assessment, subscription, or contribution for any political pur- 
pose whatever from any official, clerk, or employee of the United States. 

There are four counts in the indictment. TWo of them charge the defendant with 
receiving subscriptions and contributions for political purposes from an officer, clerk, 
or employee of the United States, and two of them charge defendant with being con- 
cerned in receiving such assessment or subscription for political purposes fronj a clerk 
or employee of the United States. „ , . , ^. ^ , ., .j. 

Evidently one of the purposes of Congress in enacting the legislation was to prohibit 
superior officers from bringing pressure to bear upon their subordinates in order to secure 
contriljutions for campaign pui-poses, and the act is couched in very broad terms. 

This evidence (which so far is uncontradicted) shows that the defendant, Mr. Dutro, 
did receive two contributions for campaign purposes from an officer or clerk or employee 
of the United States. Whatever may have been Mr. Dutro's frame of mind in regard 
to his connection with it, the one fact remains, as the evidence shows, that he received 
these contributions for the purposes and from the parties which the law prohibits. 
Perhaps and no doubt he did so without any thought that he was violating any statute 
and felt thaU he was acting purely as a conveyor of these contributions to the political 
parties for whom they were intended, to accommodate those who were making the con- 
tributions, and purely as a personal matter, but I think under the evidence his action 
was in violation of the statute. 

The other two counts, as I have pointed out, charge the defendant with being con- 
cerned in receiving assessments, subscriptions, or contributions for campaign purposes 
from a clerk, employee, or officer of the United States. There is a controversy here 
between counsel as to what the word " concerned " means. From what the law books say 
which have been read here, and from my own impression, it seems that the word con- 
cerned means to be interested in, or take part in, receiving such contributions. If Mr. 
Dutro, by his connection with these two subscriptions, took a part in the contributions 
being made bv employees of the Government for campaign purposes, he would be guilty. 
I think the natural construction of the phrase or term or word necessarily leads to the 
conclusion that he did take a part in receiving the contributions, because he received and 
conveyed them from the contributors to the parties for whom they were intended, 
and, as the proof so far shows, he knew that the parties who were making the contri- 
butions were clerks under him in the Post Office Department, and he knew the purpose 
for which the money was to be used and where it was to go. 

Entertaining these views, upon the motion as now made, I think it should be overruled. 

The following is an extract from the court's charge to the jury in the same 
case: 

I charge you the law to be that if Mr. Dutro received the contribution while he was 
postmaster at Memphis, Tenn., from Mr. Roberts, a clerk or appointee in the post office 
at Memphis, Tenn., and he received.it for political purposes — that is, it was to be used 
in the interest of a political campaign— and Mr. Dutro knew that was the purpose of 
the contribution, then he would be guilty under this statute of having received a con- 
tribution for political purposes, while postmaster — that is, an officer of the United States 
Government — from an employee and clerk in the service of the United States Post Office 
Department. And if he took the contribution and conveyed it to the place for which it 
was intended — that is, the political campaign committee of the Republican Party — then 
lie had not only received it in violation of law, but under the first count in the indict- 
ment he would be guilty of being concerned in receiving funds for campaign purposes 
within the prohibition of the law. 

What I have just said in regard to the transaction between the defendant and Mr. 
Roberts, as charged in the first and second counts, is also applicable to the transaction 
between the defendant and Miss Baker, as charged in the third and fourth counts, and 
need not be repeated. 

i^ ***** * 

You may find that he received them, then he would be guilty under the counts charg- 
ing him with receiving them ; or you may find that he did not receive them, then he 
would not be guilty under those counts charging him with receiving them ; but under 
the law as I charge it to you, if he received them knowingly, and they were delivered by 
him or used by him for political purposes, then he would also be concerned in receiving 
them, and he would be guilty under those counts in the indictment. 

The .jury returned a verdict of guilty on all four counts of the indictment. 
The decision and charge above quoted overrule the opinion of the Attorney 
General of January 25, 1896, so far as it may be urged as a defense in cases 
of this sort, and the principle appears to be definitely established that a 
defendant may no longer escape punishment by alleging that he received a 
political contribution as a mere agent or messenger for the purpose of turning 
it over to a political organization. 



15 

40. SOLICITATION OR RECEIPT OF POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN 
FEDERAL BUILDIN(^S.— Section 119, Criminal Code (a reenactment of 
section 12 of the civil-service act), provides as follows: 

" No person shall, in any room or building occupied in the discharge 
of official duties by any officer or employee of the United States men- 
tioned in the preceding section, or in any navy yard, fort, or arsenal, 
solicit in any manner whatever or receive any contribution of money 
or other thing of value for any political purpose whatever." 

41. letters addressed to Federal buildings. — The Commission by a minute 
adopted March 23, 1897, held that addressing a letter to a Government employee 
in a Government building soliciting political contributions is a solicitation in 
that building within the meaning of section 12 of the civil-service act, and in 
this- opinion was sustained by the advice of eminent counsel (see 14th Report, 
pp. 147-155), but notwithstanding numerous violations no opportunity arose of 
haAang the question judicially determined until 1907, when an indictment was 
obtained against Edward S. Thayer at Dallas, Tex. A demurrer was interposed 
to the indictment and was sustained on the ground that the act required the 
personal presence in the Government building of the solicitor. Appeal was 
taken to the Supreme Court, and the judgment of the lower court was reversed. 
(United States v. Thayer, 209 U. S., 39.) The opinion of the court, which was 
delivered by Justice Holmes on March 9, 1908, establishes definitely the proposi- 
tion that solicitation by letter or circular addressed to and delivered by mail or 
otherwise to an officer or employee of the United States at the office or building 
in which he is employed in the discharge of his official duties is a solicitation 
"in a room or building" within the meaning of this section, the solicitation 
taking place where the letter M-as received. ( See also United States v. Smith, 
163 Fed., 926, where the letter was personally delivered.) 

42. Letters delivered in Federal buildings. — The Commission holds that the 
sending through the mails of letters to Government employees soliciting political 
contributions, their street or home address being omitted from the envelopes, 
with the result that the letters are delivered by the postal authorities in the 
Government building in which they are employed, constitutes a violation of this 
section. It is a maxim of the law that a person is presumed to intend the 
natural and reasonable consequences of his acts, and failure or omission to take 
measures to avoid delivery of such letters in a Government building will render 
the offender liable to prosecution. One such prosecution has been had, but 
sufficient evidence was adduced to convince the jury that there was no intent 
to violate the law, and the defendants were acquitted. 

43. DISCRIMINATION ON ACCOUNT OF POLITICAL CONTRIBU- 
TIONS. — Section 120, Criminal Code (a reenactment of sec. 13 of the civil- 
service act), provides as follows: 

"No officer or employee of the United States mentioned in section 
one hundred and eighteen shall discharge or promote or degrade or 
in any manner change the official rank or compensation of any other 
officer or employee, or promise or threaten so to do, for giving or with- 
holding or neglecting to make any contribution of money or other 
valuable thing for any political purpose." 

, 44. PAYMENT OF POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS B¥ ONE EMPLOYEE 

TO ANOTHER. — Section 121, Criminal Code (a reenactment of sec. 14 of 

the civil-service act), provides that — 

^ " No officer, clerk, or other person in the service of the United 

States shall, directly or indirectly, give or hand over to any other 
officer, clerk, or person in the service of the United States, or to any 
Senator or Member of or Delegate to Congress or Resident Commis- 
sioner, any money or other valuable thing on account of or to be 
applied to the promotion of any political object whatever." 

45. PENALTIES FOR ASSESSMENTS.--Section 122 of the Criminal Code 
[provides as follows: 

"Whoever shall violate any provision of the four preceding sections 
shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned not 
more than three years, or both." 

46. ABOTE OFFENSES ARE FELONIES.— By section 15 of the civil- 
service act it was declared that persons violating any provision of the four 
preceding sections should be guilty of a misdemeanor, but this section is 
now superseded by section 122 of the Criminal Code, above quoted, which 



16 

makes such yiolation a felony, in view of the following provision of section 
335 of the Criminal Code: 

"All offenses which may he punished hy death or imprisonment for 

a term exceeding one year shall be deemed felonies. All other offenses 

shall be deemed misdemeanors." 

IT. POLITICAL COERCION. 

47. CITIL-SERYICE ACT AND RULE.— Section 2, clause second, of the 
civil-serYice act directs that the civil-seryice rules " shall proride and de- 
clare as nearly as the conditions of good administration will warrant, as 
follows: * * * Sixth. That no person in said seryice has any right to 
use his oiflcial authority or influence to coerce the political action of any 
person or body." In pursuance of this section civil-seryice Rule I, section 
1, provides, in part, that " No person in the executive civil service shall use 
his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an 
election or affecting the result thereof." This provision applies to all per- 
sons in the executive civil service, unclassified as well as classified, and is 
held to prohibit a superior officer from requesting or requiring the rendi- 
tion of any political service or the performance of political work of any 
sort by subordinates. 

T. POLITICAL DISCIMMINATION. 

48. FAILURE TO CONTRIBUTE OR RENDER POLITICAL SERYICE 
NOT PREJUDICIAL. — Section 2, clause second, of the act also provides: 

" Fifth. That no person in the public service is for that reason under 
any obligations to contribute to any political fund or to render any 
political service, and that he will not be removed or otherwise preju- 
diced for refusing to do so." 

49. POLITICAL OPINIONS AND AFFILIATIONS— Section 2 of Rule I 
provides as follows: 

"No question in any form of application or in any examination 
shall be so framed as to elicit information concerning the political 
or religious opinions or affiliations of any applicant, nor shall any 
inquiry be made concerning such opinions or affiliations, and all dis- 
closures thereof shall be discountenanced. No discrimination shall 
he exercised, threatened, or promised by any person in the executive 
civil service against or in favor of an applicant, eligible, or employee 
in the classified service because of his political or religious opinions 
or affiliations." 

50. Definition of discrimination. — Political discrimination consists in giving 
appointment, promotion, or any other favor to an appointee, eligible, or candi- 
date because of his politics, or withholding appointment, promotion, or any 
other favor from an appointee, eligible, or candidate because of his politics. 
An appointing officer who appoints or refuses to appoint an applicant because 
the applicant does or does not entertain certain political opinions, who makes 
any inquiry of the applicant or any other person as to the applicant's political 
opinions or affiliations, or reduces an employee because that employee refuses 
to render political service, to be coerced in political action, or to contribute 
money for political purposes, or who advances or promotes an employee for 
opposite reasons, violates the civil-service act and rules. 

51. Wholesale removals. — The removal of a large number of employees of the 
same political faith from an office will be presumed to have been made for 
political reasons, and the burden is upon the officer making the removals to 
show that just cause existed for making each such removal. 

YI. POLITICAL RECOMMENDATIONS. 

52. SENATORS AND REPRESENTATITES.— Section 10 of the civil- 
service act provides: 

" That no recommendation of any person who shall apply for office 
or place under the provisions of this act which may be given by any 
Senator or Member of the House of Representatives, except as to the 
character or residence of the applicant, shall be received or considered 
by any person concerned in making any examination or appointment 
under this act,'' 



17 

53. DISCLOSING POLITICS.— Rule I, section 3, proyides as follows: 

"No recommendation of an applicant, eligible, or employee in the 
competitiye service involring a disclosure of his political or religious 
opinions or aUBliations shall he considered or filed by the Commission 
or any officer concerned in making appointments or promotions." 

54. letters disclosing politics or religion not to te considered, — It is the duty 
of officers concerned in making appointments or promotions to refuse to receive 
or consider letters disclosing tlie polities or religion of an applicant, eligible, 
or employee and to explain to the writers that communications based upon such 
grounds will not receive attention or be filed. 

55. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROMOTION.— Rule XI, section 3, pro- 
Tides that— 

"No recommendation for the promotion of a classified employee 
shall he considered by any officer concerned in malting promotions, 
unless it be made by the person under whose supervision such em- 
ployee has served; and such recommendation by any other person, if 
made with the knowledge and consent of the employee, shall be suffi- 
cient cause for debarring him from the promotion proposed, and a 
repetition of the offense shall be sufficient cause for removing him 
from the service." 

TIL POSTAL SERTICE EMPLOYEES. 

56. ORGANIZATIONS.— Section 6 of the act of August 24, 1912 (36 Stat., 
555), provides in part— 

" That membership in any society, association, club, or other form 
of organization of postal employees not affiliated with any outside 
organization imposing an obligation or duty upon tliem to engage in 
any strike, or proposing to assist them in any strike, against the United 
States, having for its objects, among other things, improvements in 
the condition of labor of its members, including hours of labor and 
compensation therefor and leave of absence, by any person or groups 
of persons in said Postal Service, or the presenting by any such person 
or groups of persons of any grievance or grievances to the Congress 
or any Member thereof, shall not constitute or be cause for reduction 
in rank or compensation or removal of such person or groups of 
persons from said service." 

57. Rural carriers. — Executive order of December 30, 1911 : 

Hereafter paragraphs (a) and (6) of section 1 of civil-service Rule VII shall apply- 
to the appointment of rural carriers, and three eligibles shall be certified by the Civil 
Service Commission. 

In all cases selections shall be made with sole reference to merit and fitness and with- 
out regard to political considerations. No inquiry shall be made as to the political or 
religious opinions or affiliations of any eligible, and no recommendation in any way based 
thereon shall be received, considered, or filed by any officer concerned in making selections 
or appointments-. Any such recommendation, in writing, forwarded to any such officer 
shall be at once returned to the writer, with attention invited to the purport of this 
order, and attention hereto shall be similarly directed in connection with any verbal 
recommendation. Where it is found that there has been a violation of these provisions 
by any officer concerned in making selections or appointments, such fact shall be cause 
for the immediate removal of such officer from the service, and the commission shall 
make prompt report of any such case for appropriate action to the Postmaster General, 
or, as to presidential appointees, to the President. The appointment of the rural car- 
rier concerned, If effected, shall be canceled. 

Persons employed as rural carriers, while retaining the right to vote as they please 
and to express their opinion privately on all political subjects, shall take no active part 
in political management or in political campaigns. Any rural carrier taking such part 
shall be removed from the service or otherwise disciplined, recommendation as to the 
penalty to be imposed in each case to be made by the Civil Service Commission. 

Paragraphs (a) and (h) of section 1 of civil-service Rule VII refer to the 
manner of certification of eligibles. 

58. Fourth-class postmasters. — Extract from regulations approved by the 
President November 25, 1912 : 

In all cases selection for appointment shall be made with sole reference to_ merit 
and fitness and without regard to political or religious considerations. No inquiry 
shall be made as to the political or religious opinions or affiliations of any applicant or 
eligible, and in conformity with section 10 of the civil-service act no recommendation 
in any way based thereon shall be received or considered by any officer concerned in 
making selections or appointments. The attention of the writer of any such recom- 
mendation shall be invited to the purport of this order, and attention hereto shall be 



18 

similarly directed in connection with any verbal recommendation. Where it is found 
that there has been a violation of these provisions by any officer concerned in making 
selections or appointments, such fact shall be cause for the immediate removal of such 
officer from the service, and the Civil Service Commission shall make prompt report 
of any such case for appropriate action to the Postmaster General, or, as to presidential 
appointees, to the President. The appointment of the fourth-class postmaster concerned. 
If effected, shall be canceled. Persons employed as postmasters of the fourth class, 
while retaining the right to vote as they please and to express their opinions privately 
on all political subjects, shall take no active part in political management or in political 
campaigns. Any such postmaster taking such part shall be removed from the service 
or otherwise disciplined, recommendations as to the penalty to be imposed in each case 
to be made by the Civil Service Commission. This section shall apply to all offices of 
the fourth class of whatever compensation. 

Till. ATTEMPTS TO INFLUENCE LEGISLATION. 

59. Rig"ht of petition. — The first amendment of the Constitution of the United 
States provides that " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment 
of religion ; or prohibit the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to 
petition the Government for a redress of grievances." 

The matter of attempts by Government employees to influence legislation has 
been the subject of a number of Executive ordiers (see 29th Report of Commis- 
sion, p. 21), the last of w^hich is dated April S, 1912, and reads as follows : 

It is hereby ordered that petitions or other communications regarding public business 
addressed to the Congress or either House or any committee or Member thereof by 
officers or employees in the civil service of the United States shall be transmitted through 
the heads of their respective departments or offices, who shall forward them without 
delay with such comment as they may deem requisite in the public interest. Officers and 
employees are strictly prohibited, either directly or indirectly, from attempting to secure 
legislation or to influence pending legislation, except in the manner above prescribed. 

This order supersedes the Executive orders of January 31, 1902, January 25, 1906, 
and November 26, 1909, regarding the same general matter. 

This order was rescinded by the provision contained in section 6 of the act 
of August 24, 1912 (37 Stat. L.', 555), that " the right of persons employed in the 
civil service of the United States, either individually or collectively, to petition 
Congress, or any Member thereof, or to furnish information to either House of 
Congress, or to any committee or Member thereof, shall not be denied or inter- 
fered with." 

IX. JURISDICTION OF COMMISSION. 

60. Investigations and recommendations. — The Commission's jurisdiction un- 
der the civil-service act and rules extends to the investigation of alleged viola- 
tions of law or rules as to political activity, assessments, coercion, discrimina- 
tion, etc., on the part of both classified and unclassified employees, except 
alleged violations by unclassified employees of restrictions upon their political 
activity contained in the various Executive orders and letters of the Presidents 
and in the orders issued by the heads of departments. 

61. Policy of Commission. — It is the duty of the Commission to see that the 
I)rovisions of the civil-service act and rules are strictly enforced, and it will 
employ every legitimate and available means to secure the prosecution and 
punishment of persons who may violate them. The commission requests any 
person having knowledge of any such violation to lay the facts before it, 
that it may at once take action thereupon. 

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